Living to eat and loving every bite.

Meat Free Modays – Veggie Tikka Masala (GF)

Joining in with another blogging world phenomenon this Monday, with a delightful recipe for a meat-free dinner. This veggie curry is mellow, not packing an enormous punch, but flavourful nonetheless. It’s versatile, using whatever vegetables you currently have, although it’s ideal to stick with a few root based ones. And it’s cheap too, added bonus!

Vegetable Tikka Masala

Serves 4 (or 2, with two portions for freezable leftovers)

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, peeled and diced

1 bell pepper (any colour), deseeded and cut into thin strips

1 carrot, peeled and cut into small pieces

1 small sweet potato, peeled and chunked

1 small swede, peeled and chunked

small handful of spinach

350ml vegetable stock

1 tsp tomato puree

1 tbsp tikka masala curry paste

salt and pepper

75g red lentils

75ml single cream (this is an approximation, as I had leftover cream that needed eating up and didn’t measure. Add as much as feels appropriate)

1) Peel and chop and dice and deseed before you even turn the oven on. It makes life easier. Preheat a large pan until hot, add sunflower oil, then turn down the heat and add the onions and bell pepper. Enjoy the sizzle.

2) Sauté gently until the onions and bell pepper are soft. Add the other vegetables (apart from the spinach) and increase the heat. Sauté for a few more minutes so the veg gets some colour.

3) Stir through the curry paste. Add the tomato puree to the stock then add the tomatoey-stock to the pan. Bring to the boil.

4) Add the lentils and stir to incorporate. Turn down the heat, cover and simmer for 20mins. Meanwhile, cook rice.

5) When your vegetables are tender, and the rice is nearly ready, stir through the spinach. Turn the heat down real low and add the cream a drizzle at a time, stirring between each edition. This ensures NO curdling.

6) Gently bring the curry back to a hot temperature before serving.

Are you having a meat-free evening? What’s your favourite vegetarian dish?